Fade to Black (4 page)

“Come on, let’s brush those teeth,” Lily
said.

When he was done, she tucked him in bed and
leaned down and gave him a kiss on the cheek. “I love you, little man.”

“Love you, too, Mommy.”

“Goodnight.”

“Dev is pretty cool.”

“Yes, he is. Now it’s time to go to sleep.”

“Can you believe he’s already seen the new
Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtle movie? That’s so awesome. I can’t wait to see it.”

“It is awesome, and I know you can’t wait, but
it’s still time to go to sleep.”

“’K, night.”
He rolled over onto his side, away from her.

Rubbing his back, she remembered what it
was like when he was a baby and she’d do the same thing. Sighing and getting up,
she made sure his blankets were exactly right and left the room leaving the
door cracked open.

When she walked back in to the living room,
the game was cleaned up and Devlin was sitting on the couch with a glass of
wine for her. “Thank you. Don’t get me wrong, I love my son, but there is
something about when he’s gone to bed and everything is all cleaned up and I
can kick back and relax with a glass of wine that seems so rewarding.”

“I’m sure you work hard all day, and taking
care of a child on your own can’t be easy. I’d say you earned it.” He
clinked
his glass against hers.
“Slainte.”

“Slainte.”
After taking a drink, she leaned back against the cushion and closed her eyes.
“You don’t need to stay if you have somewhere else you need to be.”

“I’m quite content here and nowhere else I
need to be.”

“Thank you for spending time with us, I
know Leo really enjoyed it.”

“And his mother, what did she think?”

“She thought it was really nice, too.” She
smiled and opened her eyes to look at him. “It was a nice break from our
typical weeknight routine.”

“Somehow it doesn’t surprise me you have a
routine.”

Lily shrugged and her face turned red. “It
makes things easier.”

“I didn’t mean to embarrass you. I think
it’s a great thing. Unfortunately, there are times when parents don’t try to do
their best for their children. It’s a nice, refreshing change.”

“What about…” Lily looked down at her
fingers.

“What about what? Lily, you can ask me
anything. My life is mostly an open book for anyone to find out anything.”

“I figured everyone probably inundates you
with questions about Hollywood all the time. So I thought if it was something
you wanted to talk about, you’d bring it up. Besides, I really don’t like to
pry.”

“Well, thank you for thinking of me. It’s
actually a nice change. Most people are looking for what they can get for themselves.”

“How do you deal with it? How do you know
when someone is being sincere?”

He frowned and thought for a moment before
answering. “I figure it’s my duty to help people. I’ve been fortunate and made
a lot of money. I have more than I could ever use. Yes, I like the finer things
in life, but I don’t
need
them. If
there is someone who needs something I have, I’ll give it to them. I know there
have been times I’ve been used, and my only hope is maybe someday they’ll be
able to help someone else when they need it.”

“That sounds wonderful, but doesn’t it
bother you?”

“It used to. At one point it was harder and
harder to see who was using me and who actually needed help. I ended up not
helping someone I should have. Someone who really needed it, and because I
turned my back on him, he died. He told me he needed some money to pay his
electric bill.” Devlin looked down at his glass. “I had the money, but I
thought he was going to use it for something else, so I didn’t give it to him.
That night there was an unusual freeze, it normally doesn’t get that cold in
the L.A. area, and he was at a higher elevation. They found him a couple of
days later, he had frozen to death.”

“Oh, Devlin, I’m so sorry.”

“I’ve carried the guilt around with me for
a long time. Now no matter who asks, I always try to help, whatever I can do.” He
tipped his glass and watched the liquid tilt. “Maybe what they use the money
for is selfish and doesn’t help anyone but themselves, but what if it was a
nice fancy dinner to impress someone? Aren’t they spending the money in a
restaurant? Maybe they’ll give the waiter a nice tip, and maybe the tip will be
the difference for one person that will help them. You never know how the
things you do will end up affecting someone else.”

“Wow. That is amazing, a really great way
to think about it.” Lily sat there for a few minutes looking at him and knowing
there was more to this man than what was visible on the surface. She remembered
reading articles about him making his opinions heard about injustices in the
world, but she didn’t realize how much he actually gave until now.

They talked about growing up, their
parents, the dreams they used to have, the dreams which came true, and the ones
they were still chasing. Every once in a while they’d branch out into politics
or religion seeing where the other one stood, but never getting down to details
or arguments. The more one gave, the more the other one wanted to. Going back
and forth from serious to lighthearted, Devlin changed back to serious.

“Where’s his father?” Dev asked as he
played with a lock of her hair.

“Out of the picture.”

“Care to elaborate?”

“There’s really not much to tell. Deke and
I were both studying at Columbia University in New York City. We were both
young, and were going to change the world with our art.” She gave him a sad
smile. “We graduated,
then
spent time trying to sell
our art. It wasn’t a bad relationship, I guess you could say it was
comfortable, but we both put all of our passion into our art and not each
other. Then as they say, at one point, one thing led to another, and nine
months later Leo was born. Somehow a baby didn’t fit into his lifestyle, but we
got married anyway. We had a small studio, which wasn’t even big enough for
both of us, but with a baby added in, there really wasn’t enough room. Once the
baby became a toddler, it was apparent Deke wanted nothing to do with him. One
day I woke up and he left, never to come back. I get a check a couple of times
a year.
Anywhere from ten bucks to a couple hundred.
I
really don’t want it, but I put it away for when Leo’s older.”

“It couldn’t have been easy.”

“It’s nothing that thousands of other
single parents don’t go through all the time. Leo has grown up without a father.
I vowed to myself he’d never know how difficult things were for me at times,
he’d always know I love him and
I’m
there for him, no matter what.”

“He’s a lucky little boy.”

“I like to think so.”

They continued to talk long into the night
until it was late and time for Devlin to say goodnight. It felt natural when he
leaned in and gave her a quick kiss on the cheek. When she went to bed, she had
a smile on her face. For the first time in years, she’d spent an enjoyable
evening with an attractive man, and except for her one mom moment of freaking
out about him possibly being a murderer, she’d relaxed and enjoyed herself. Not
to mention, she could now say she’s kissed the famous Devlin Cross – well, he’d
given her a kiss on the cheek. She chuckled to herself. Now there’s a memory
for when she’s an old lady.

Chapter
Four

Hayden
followed Devlin from the city, wondering where he was going. She hoped he’d end
up somewhere they could ‘accidently’ run into each other. It took everything
she had not to bust into his meeting and demand why he was ignoring her text
messages. She was more important than anything else. Frowning, she didn’t
understand where he was going. She’d passed him at one point and looked over.
He was focused straight ahead with a smile on his face. Using the voice-activated
search engine on her phone, she tried to figure out where he could be going. If
she knew his final destination, she might be able to get there first and make
it look more like he ran into her, and not the other way around.

Watching his hand tap on the side of the
door to whatever music he was listening to, she frowned when nothing came up in
her search that he’d be interested in. She knew everything about him; she had
filled a whole notebook with his likes and dislikes. She’d even memorized
everything down to the exact amount of pepper he liked on his eggs based on his
activities from the night before. If there’d been a movie premiere and he’d
been up late, he’d like more pepper. If he’d been shooting a movie and it
hadn’t been a late shoot, and he’d arrived home at a decent time, he’d barely
use any pepper. She knew him, knew all about him. She’d been studying him for
years; there was nothing she did not know.

When he signaled to exit the turnpike, she
didn’t know what to expect, but the small town with a small main street was
definitely not it. He seemed to know exactly where he was going. This couldn’t
be right. When he pulled into a parking space in front of a white house, she
quickly turned down a side street so he wouldn’t see her. Finding her own
parking space wasn’t difficult, and she quickly left her car and peeked around
the corner just in time to see him enter the building.

Going back to her car, she opened the trunk
and pulled out the disguise she’d placed in there. After a quick look around,
she saw no one watching her from the windows. She pulled on a wig then placed a
hat on her head. With her short blonde hair, all she had to do was make sure
her bangs were hidden behind the dark wig.

As she walked down the street, she tried to
make it appear that she wasn’t following Devlin. She frowned when she was
finally able to read the name of the business. She knew Devlin liked art, but
to travel an hour and half from Boston to go to this little hole in the wall
gallery? What could be so special? Carefully, she looked in and saw a short,
chunky woman with nasty, bright red hair, which was so unkempt. Concentrating
on her breathing as she searched for a place to watch and not be seen, she
tasted blood in her mouth from where she bit her cheek trying not to scream.

~^~

Hayden stood in the shadows across the
street looking at the window, which had just gone black. Her heart sank and she
felt like she was going to throw up. She couldn’t believe he was cheating on
her, with a nothing of a woman. Her whole body shook.

What
could he possibly see in her? I’m skinnier; I’m the perfect Hollywood size
zero. I stand at the exact proper height based on how tall he is. I shop at all
the right places, wear all the right clothes. Even in my awkward high school
teenage years I was voted ‘most beautiful.’ Why is he spending all evening with
her? Surely she can’t be as smart as I am. To get where I’m at, I had to not
only have street smarts, but book smarts, too. I had to know all of the angles.
The other woman was
nothing
.
She looked like a single mother. She
couldn’t even hold onto the baby daddy. I had given him everything and this is
how he treats me? How could he do this to me?

She fell to her knees, unable to fathom
what he’d done to her. Digging her fingers into the dirt, silent sobs shook her
body and she vowed to do whatever it took to get him back. He’d always been
hers, and would always be hers. She would not be denied. She used her fists to
pound the ground and throw rocks and dirt to help alleviate the anger and
frustration she was feeling. She gave herself exactly twenty-two minutes to
rage and lose control. When she was finished, she stood up and casually brushed
the dirt off of her knees and stepped out under the light of the streetlamp.
Giving the dark window one last glance, she turned and walked to where she had
hidden her car. While the image of him kissing the whore burned into her brain,
she hummed “Baby Did a Bad
Bad
Thing” by Chris Isaak.

Chapter
Five

Lily
turned around when the bell on the door dinged, and saw Dory standing there.
She already knew where this was going to go and was actually surprised it took
her this long to get over here. When she’d told her Devlin had been in her
gallery, Dory was all ticked she wasn’t there so she could have met him. She’d
been the one who had listened to Lily when they were teenagers about how cute
he was. Lily knew it was a matter of time before she showed up today. Knowing
the gossip mill around town, she was surprised Dory hadn’t been watching her
and Devlin from across the street last night.

“Spill.
I
want to know everything. And don’t leave a thing out. Well, one thing, but you
already knew that.” Dory grinned at her joke.

“There’s nothing to tell.” She turned
around and hid the grin from her. “You’re here early. Did you close early? No
one wants to adopt a pet today?”

“Don’t try to change the subject. What do
you mean there is nothing to tell? He was here until late last night.” Dory
folded her arms across her chest and squinted at Lily.